CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Camerata Salzburg

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 8:00 PM

Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin
Camerata Salzburg

BACH Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041
BACH Double Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043

BACH Violin Concerto in E Major, BWV 1042
TARTINI (arr. Ricardo Zandonai) "Devil's Trill" Sonata

Encore:
BACH "Air" from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068

Program Notes:

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Born March 21, 1685, in Eisenach; died July 28, 1750, in Leipzig

Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041
Composed around 1730, the Violin Concerto No. 1 received its first Carnegie Hall performance on February 4, 1902, with Paur Symphony Orchestra; Emil Paur, conductor; and Florizel Reuter, violin.

J. S. Bach spent most of his professional life in church positions, composing sacred music almost exclusively, so opportunities to focus on his secular output arose only during a few limited periods. One fertile stretch began in 1717 with his move from the stifling climate of Weimar to the secular and open-minded court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, where Bach had both the freedom to explore instrumental forms and a talented ensemble to perform his new works. Compositions from this period include the “Brandenburg” concertos, many of the suites for solo instruments (including the violin sonatas and partitas), and probably the three extant violin concertos. It is also possible that the violin concertos on tonight’s program originated around 1730, when Bach took a side job as director of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, an ensemble of professional and amateur musicians that performed weekly concerts. The prevalent Italianate influences in the violin concertos might suggest the earlier date of composition, but Bach would have reused the works in Leipzig all the same. To enrich his Collegium Musicum repertoire, Bach later recycled the violin concertos into keyboard concertos, and it is through the number and nature of the transcribed keyboard concertos that we can deduce that he must have composed more violin concertos. Although some have tried, it is nearly impossible to reconstruct the lost concertos because Bach always tailored his recycled material to suit its new setting.

Bach’s approach to the violin concerto borrowed heavily from Vivaldi. His use of ritornello structures, movements organized in a fast-slow-fast arrangement, and an approach to orchestration that included the soloist as a component of the ensemble sound (as opposed to the more heroic soloist-versus-orchestra construct that would emerge in the following generations) all point directly to the Italian influence. The outer movements of the Concerto in A Minor demonstrate Bach’s fluidity and cohesion within this adopted format. The most striking music, however, is reserved for the slow movement; longer than the other two movements combined, this hallowed meditation occupies the emotional core of the concerto. The movement unfolds as a spacious conversation between the insistent bass motive of repeated notes and the free-spirited violin melody, mediated by a spare accompaniment of pulsing chords in the upper strings.


Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043
Composed between 1730 and 1731, the Concerto for Two Violins received its first Carnegie Hall performance on December 20, 1900, with the Musical Art Society of New York; Frank Damrosch, conductor; and Fritz Kreisler and David Mannes, violins.

Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins has long been a favorite of performers and audiences alike, providing a unique forum for collaboration among soloists who most often stand alone. Still, the success of the Bach “Double” goes far beyond its instrumentation. The marvel of the work is its perfect synthesis of the two sides of Bach’s voice, what one may call Apollonian and Dionysian. On the one side is the simple elegance of form and texture that Bach absorbed from Italy (with its sunnier climates) and its master of the concerto, Vivaldi. On the other side is the ordered chaos of contrapuntal music, which continued to fascinate Bach even as it passed out of fashion with the younger composers of the day. Bach was one of the rare geniuses (Mozart and Beethoven may be his only true company in this regard) who could hold the opposing ideals of his time in utter balance, producing music that drew limitless fascination through its beauty and structural integrity.

The opening of the first movement borrows elements of a fugue, with the second violins (solo and orchestra) stating the subject first, followed four measures later by the first violins’ entrance. This highly memorable theme begins with an ascending scale fragment that leaps up and then gradually snakes its way back down an octave to the starting pitch. In counterbalance, the solo episodes unveil a theme of dramatic leaps and descending scale fragments. The movement proceeds in this ritornello format, interspersing orchestral statements of the iconic subject around churning elaboration by the soloists.

The stately slow movement relies on the same construct for sharing solo duties, introducing the theme with the second solo violin, followed by the first solo violin imitating the material. The two solo lines mostly dance in subtle opposition of each other, with nearly constant motion. When the voices do unite, the simplest music takes on uncanny transcendence.

The Allegro finale returns to the propulsive D minor mood of the concerto’s opening movement. This time the first solo violin has the honor of starting, followed closely by the second violin. This echo effect, featured throughout the movement, appeared in prior works for multiple soloists by Corelli and Vivaldi as well. It reminds us that for all the secular masterpieces these composers left us, their home space was always the church, that great giver of echoes from above.


Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042
Composed before 1730, the Violin Concerto No. 2 received its first Carnegie Hall performance on November 12, 1897, with the New York Philharmonic; Anton Seidl, conductor; and Eugène Ysaÿe, violin.

Besides recycling freely from his own catalog throughout his career, Bach capitalized on music from other composers, whether in his organ improvisations, as a basis for rearrangement, or folding them into his own original works. An example of this borrowing from a common pool of successful musical material appears at the beginning of Bach’s Concerto for Violin in E Major; the three chords and pause that introduce the work appear at the beginning of about two dozen of Vivaldi’s concertos. The well-traveled motive is an effective herald of the joyful music to come.

Continuing in the Vivaldi mold, Bach weaves the soloist in and out of the ensemble texture through episodes and recaps of the main material, and extends the span of the movement in a long detour through different minor keys (C-sharp and G-sharp) before returning to the opening music. The journey into C-sharp minor proves especially significant because it is home key of the Adagio, a poignant lament featuring prominent melodies in the lower strings. The Allegro assai finale adheres most closely to the Baroque ritornello format, with episodic musings by the soloist separating verbatim restatements of the orchestral theme.


GIUSEPPE TARTINI Violin Sonata in G Minor; Op. 1, No. 4 “The Devil’s Trill”
Born April 8, 1692, in Pirano, Istria [now Piran, Istra, Slovenia]; died February 26, 1770, in Padua, Italy

The enigmatic Giuseppe Tartini has remained an obscure figure in music, despite all the successes of his long and varied career. After defying his family’s wish for him to enter the priesthood and then abandoning his studies in law, Tartini found success performing as a violinist. His impeccable technique was largely self-taught, and it was through his exploration of the violin’s mechanics and acoustics that he developed several landmark concepts. One such discovery was the simultaneous sounding of two pitches (such as the violinist’s double-stop), which still carries the name “Tartini tone.” Tartini spread his knowledge through an internationally renowned violin school he ran in Padua, and through a number of published treatises (one of which appeared translated and reprinted in its entirety in Leopold Mozart’s influential violin method).

Tartini’s most lasting legacy is his body of musical compositions. Focusing almost exclusively on sonatas and concertos for the violin, he drew on the influence of earlier Italian masters like Corelli and Vivaldi, while infusing his own keen sense of the violin’s strengths and possibilities. The Sonata in G Minor, nicknamed “The Devil’s Trill,” remains by far his most popular work. Generations of virtuosos have tested their mettle with the fiendishly difficult passages promised by the title, and the haunting melodies are a prime representation of Tartini’s passion for the mystical strains in music. Composed originally for violin with basso continuo accompaniment, this arrangement by Ricardo Zandonai takes on the dimensions of a concerto with string ensemble, while the added cadenza by Fritz Kreisler shows how far violinists have progressed in instrumental pyrotechnics.

Let us leave the final words to Tartini, who’s alleged recollection of the sonata’s genesis to French astronomer Jérôme Lalande was translated in a 1900 history by Walter Rowlands:

One night in the year 1713, I dreamed that I had made a compact with the Devil, and that he stood at my command. Everything thrived according to my wish, and whatever I desired or longed for was immediately realized through the officiousness of my new vassal. A fancy seized me to give him my violin to see if he could, perchance, play some beautiful melodies for me. How surprised I was to hear a sonata, so beautiful and singular, rendered in such an intelligent and masterly manner as I had never heard before. Astonishment and rapture overcame me so completely that I swooned away. On returning to consciousness, I hastily took up my violin, hoping to be able to play at least a part of what I had heard, but in vain. The sonata I composed at that time was certainly my best, and I still call it the “Devil’s Sonata,” but this composition is so far beneath the one I heard in my dream, that I would have broken my violin and given up music altogether, had I been able to live without it.

By Aarron Grad

Copyright © 2008 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin
For three decades Anne-Sophie Mutter has been one of the greatest violin virtuosos of our time, appearing at all major music centers worldwide. In addition to standard works, she continually presents new and innovative chamber and orchestral repertoire.

In 2008 Anne-Sophie Mutter performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in a European tour with the Berlin Philharmonic commemorating the 100th birthday of Herbert von Karajan; Brahms’s Violin Sonatas together with pianist Lambert Orkis in the US and Germany; Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and J. S. Bach’s Concerto in E Major during an Asian tour with the Trondheim Soloists; and the Beethoven String Trios with Yuri Bashmet and Lynn Harrell. Her autumn tour in the US with Camerata Salzburg features Bach’s solo violin concertos and the Concerto for Two Violins.

Later this season she gives the European premiere of Previn’s Double Concerto for violin and double bass with the London Symphony, and performs Mendelssohn with the New York Philharmonic for the Mendelssohn bicentennial. She presents the American premiere of Gubaidulina’s Concerto “In tempus praesens” with the San Francisco Symphony; and leads the world premieres of both the Previn Piano Trio with Mr. Previn and Mr. Harrell, and the Previn Concerto for Violin and Viola with Yuri Bashmet at Carnegie Hall in celebration of the composer’s 80th birthday.

Ms. Mutter takes special pride in performing contemporary compositions for violin. Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn, and Wolfgang Rihm have all dedicated works to her.

Taking special interest in medical and social issues, Ms. Mutter regularly lends her support to such causes through charitable concerts. The Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation was also founded this year to enable and increase worldwide support for promising young musicians, many of whom have been assisted by The Anne-Sophie Mutter Circle of Friends Foundation founded in 1997.

Ms. Mutter received the 2008 International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (Europe’s most prestigious music prize) in front of five living composers: André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Henri Dutilleux, Sebastian Currier, and Sofia Gubaidulina. She is a bearer of the Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic, 1st Class; the Bavarian Order of Merit; the Austrian Order of Merit for Service to the Republic of Austria; and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, among many other awards.

The honors afforded Ms. Mutter for her many recordings include several Grammy Awards, the German Record Prize, Record Academy Prize, Grand Prix du Disque, and the International Record Prize. Her recording of Gubaidulina’s Violin Concerto “In tempus praesens” and Bach’s Violin Concertos in A Minor and E Major is being released internationally this year.

Camerata Salzburg
Founded in 1952 by Bernhard Paumgartner, Camerata Salzburg comprises young musicians of over twenty nationalities. A rarity in Europe, the ensemble performs more than 80 privately financed concerts each year.

True to its motto “In Search of Excellence”, the orchestra offers top quality performances with outstanding conductors and soloists. Guests last season included Louis Langrée, Jonathan Biss, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Stefan Vladar, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Victoria Mullova, Hilary Hahn, Jian Wang, Matthias Goerne, Emmanuel Pahud, Hakan Hardenberger, and many more. The orchestra also appeared in Aix-en-Provence, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Asia.

The 2008–2009 season includes a two-week residency at the Maribor Festival in Slovenia. In addition to several concerts in Austria, the orchestra will tour Germany, Italy, Spain, China, and Greece. Among its guest artists this season are François Leleux, Gerd Albrecht, Louis Langrée, Lisa Larsson, Christian Gerhaher, Miah Persson, Sol Gabetta, Heinz Holliger, Martin Fröst, Heinrich Schiff, and many more. The orchestra’s current two-week tour with Ms. Mutter also includes concerts in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

The orchestra is frequently invited to the Carinthian Summer as well as the Salzburg’s Mozartwoche festivals, complemented by the orchestra’s own three-day “Begegnung” Festival in its hometown. It is also a fixture at the Salzburger Festspiele and the orchestra’s own subscription concert series in Salzburg, as well as at the Konzerthaus in Vienna.

Leonidas Kavakos been Camerata Salzburg’s Artistic Director since the 2007–2008 season.
Sir Roger Norrington, who served as the orchestra’s chief conductor from 1997 until 2006, remains its Conductor Laureate.